Deborah Thomas, Twickenham

1. Perception: Do you consider yourself to be a progressive?

"I think that the progressive feel was one of the things that made me join the party in the first place. It's a party that is for social mobility and equal opportunities. It's more multicultural, far more than Labour. I am a prime example: I am mixed-race. My parents were Asian and Welsh and I was brought up by a single-parent mother. I am female so I tick all the boxes.

"We are also far more progressive on gay rights and same-sex couples. I consider myself to be socially liberal. People used to say to me: 'How can you be a member of the "nasty party"?' That perception is gone now. This new progressivism might alienate the old guard; I don't think it will because a lot of the old guard voted for David Cameron and his policies. To an extent we have detoxified the Conservative brand."

2. Tax: Should David Cameron offer more tax cuts than he has outlined already?

"No more tax cuts at present. There are a lot of people that want to commit us to large tax cuts but we can't do that until we have seen the state of public finances and we know what our fixed costs will be."

3. Tax: If yes to the above, do you think they should be funded by (a) cuts in public spending, or (b) increases in other taxes

"We were never against public services, we were always against bureaucracy and waste – if you cut waste and invest in frontline service you save money in the long term. We are not going to cut public services; that [would be] patently wrong."

4. Tax: Should so-called "green" taxes increase?

See answer to Q2.

5. Tax: As a share of GDP tax is currently around 37%. After four years of a Conservative government would you expect it to be:(a) substantially lower – at least 2 percentage points(b) slightly lower(c) much the same as it is now(d) higher

"In the long term we are a low-tax party. Nobody believes that government spends our money better than we can."

6. Europe: On balance has Britain lost out or gained from its membership of the EU? If it has lost out, should it withdraw?

"It's been a net gain, but I want it to become a more democratic institution. We should have had a say via a referendum after [the] Lisbon [treaty]. We need to look carefully at structures – they haven't been able to agree a budget for, what, 10 or 11 years. It's not really our relationship with Europe that is the problem, it's the relationship with the institutions that is wrong."

7. Family: Which of the following statements most reflects your view:(a) The tax system should be reformed to recognise and promote marriage(b) The tax system should help parents regardless of their marital status

"We are not anti-single parent or anything like that. I was brought up by a single parent; that doesn't mean she was a bad mother. We just think that the tax system shouldn't punish people for being married."

8. Abortion: The House of Commons recently voted to maintain the upper limit of 24 weeks on abortion. Do you believe it should be reduced? If yes, by how many weeks?